Modern Worship Has It Backwards: We Already Have God

Whether sung or spoken, worship can either celebrate our union with God or reinforce notions of separation. Personally, I feel that many modern worship songs fall into the latter category. Any of the following supplications rely on the notion of gaining something we currently lack, or getting God to do something he apparently hasn’t done:

• Come Holy Spirit.
• Fill us with your love
• Draw me close to you
• Cleanse me of sin
• Set us on fire.

God has either already done these things or is already doing them, and any sense of lack can only be an issue of perception – an illusion, driving us to desperation. Our part in times of worship is to tune into what God has already done or is already doing, and become deeply, mystically aware of our union with him. This isn’t just semantics. Every time we give voice to a song that begs for something new, we reinforce a sense of lack and an even more damaging notion of separation from God. We do not worship to gain something from God; we worship to bask in the love that is already within us and around us.

The best way I can explain this is with an analogy. When I spend time in nature, I’m not observing it from an emotional or intellectual distance; I’m part of it. I feel it all around me, because I too am an expression of creation, and all things are connected. Worship can be the same if, instead of trying to engage, we acknowledge that we are part of the divine flow. I would say we’re not even singing “to” God in times of worship, as that too relies on a sense of separation. We are singing “with” God: a mutual celebration of his love and our grateful response. This kind of worship goes so much deeper than praising an external being, or even a being that resides within us; we are one with God, and it is this profound union that we are called to explore. John 17:20-23,

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

Our great union with God was Jesus’ highest desire for his disciples and for us – that we will be one in the same way that Jesus and the Father are one, and that we would experience that profound interconnectedness among ourselves as well as with God.

It’s not an Equal Union

Being at one with God does not mean we are equal to him. He is the ocean, and we are waves within it; he is the creator, and we are the creation; he is the source of all life, and we are expressions of his life-giving nature. In short, he is the breath in our lungs. Though God is infinitely more powerful than all of us put together, he does not lord it over us or demand our reverence. The love of God is expressed through service. The creator’s greatest act of service for his creation was abandoning his divine privileges and taking fragile flesh, living among us, teaching and healing us, and forgiving humanity when we crucified him. That service continues today, through his continual intercession for each of us, and his involvement in our lives.

Progressives sometimes object to sung worship on the grounds that we are abasing ourselves before a needy God, but, in my view, this stems from a lack of understanding of both the servant nature of God and worship itself. Worship in spirit and in truth is not about begging or abasing ourselves; it is not about putting ourselves down and grovelling before a demanding deity. True worship is simply entering into the flow of love between the Creator and his creation. He doesn’t demand our praise, but in the flow of worship, it is as natural as breath to proclaim his greatness. In the same way, we express our organic gratitude when experiencing the tangible awareness of his love. In those moments of union, he loves us, and we love him back.

Why Do Some People Find It Hard to Worship?

If worship is rich and tangible, flowing from an awareness of our union with God, why do some enter deeply into that awareness while others feel dry as dust? I can only speak from experience and say that we can get hemmed in by all kinds of obstacles, and that spiritual growth occurs when as we remove them one by one. All of these obstacles are rooted in harmful theology.

In my experience, believers can be painfully confused about the nature of God. There are those who sing of God’s love, calling him our defender, healer, and saviour, while also believing that their sufferings are the will of God, sent to teach them something. Internally, this double mindedness leaves a person in a terrible mess, their intimacy with God limited by uncertainty about his fundamental nature. When we think this way, we move away from childlike trust and keep God at a distance – our inner child knows to hide from the monster.

Another harmful theological conceit is that we are worthless and undeserving of God’s love. This is based on shallow interpretations of specific Biblical passages, divorced from their context, and from failing to understand that we live under grace (the free gift of God’s love) instead of law (striving to live up to a set of rules to receive God’s approval).

There are various indicators that a person is still living under law instead of under grace:

• An obsession with their own sin
• Judging others for their failures
• Lack of joy
• Fear of making mistakes
• Begging for forgiveness from God instead of approaching the throne of grace with confidence
• Lack of compassion
• Lack of curiosity
• A preference for dwelling on the bone-shaking, terrifying encounters with God seen in the Old Testament, rather than the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the compassion of Jesus seen in the New Testament.

The Way Forward – Practicing Christ-centred Worship

Worship is a practice, meaning a regular activity. A practice isn’t something we do every now and again – it’s a natural rhythm we develop and maintain. Personally, I’ve found that becoming aware of our union with God is like tuning into a radio station. It might take a little while to find the station on the first try, but once you’ve found it you can return there anytime you like.

Readers who’d like to learn more of that journey are invited to get a copy of a book I wrote on the subject under the pseudonym, James Bewley. It tells the story of my own journey towards union with God and identifies key obstacles believers need to address to move forward. I’ve also written a walkthrough of a brief meditational exercise to help people tune in to their union with God. Thirdly, I’ve written a study on the Book of Job, and how its misteaching can erect a formidable obstacle to divine union.

If we want to see God as he is, we must return to Jesus again and again. He is the perfect and complete expression of the nature of God. Hebrews 1:3,

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

To put it simply, if we can’t see it in Jesus, it’s not part of the nature of God. I invite you to consciously embark on the journey of deconstruction, disassembling harmful religious structures that keep you stuck where you are. I trust that you will engage in a Christ-centred practice of worship and discover the depths of the life-changing flow of his love.